The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has said he will ensure all records held by the Anglican Church of England relating to residential schools are made public.
People who attended the former Mohawk Institute in Brantford, Ontario, asked the Anglican Church to release these records in hopes they could explain the true number of children who died at school and where they were buried.
Anything from the Church of England Archives will be availablesaid Justin Welby in a scrum Saturday, on a visit to the James Smith Cree Nation, about 200 miles northeast of Saskatoon.
On his trip to Canada, which ends Tuesday, Welby must visit the former site of the Mohawk Institute, then run by the Anglicans, where the Woodland Cultural Center is now located.
The meeting, however, was canceled after survivors from the Six Nations of the Grand River, a Haudenosaunee community near Hamilton, Ontario, refused to attend unless the Anglican Church promised to fund the community’s revitalization. native languages and make public all records held in England.
If they are not ready to do it, then there is no sincerity in it.said Roberta Hill, a member of the Survivor Secretariat, a group that conducts research on old school grounds.
They can’t say to the next generation, “You know what? We said we were sorry. Let’s leave it at that and move on.”he says. No, they are indebted to our community, to all of our communities.
Facts rather than reasons, questioning the survivor
During a visit to Saskatchewan last weekend, Mr. Welby apologized for the actions of the Anglican Church, which allowed a horrible crime happening in residential schools, which he says is equivalent to cultural genocide.
I can’t express enough how sorry I amhe told the survivors of the James Smith Cree Nation.
Stealing from a child while you are reading the Bible to him, how can someone do it and look in the mirror?he asked.
The Anglican Church of Canada has twice issued an apology to survivors, in 1993 and 2019, but this is the first time the Supreme Archbishop of the Church of England has done so.
For Roberta Hill, who studied at the Mohawk Institute from 1957 to 1961 and experienced abuse there, the apology was empty.
What I want is the truthhe says. Something is happening in this country and it is an attack on indigenous children.
The facility, operated from 1828 to 1970 by the Anglican Church and the Government of Canada, is the longest -running residential school in Canada. According to the Survivors Secretariat, between 90 and 200 children from the Six Nations and various communities are forced to attend school each year.
The documents are in England
On April 12, the Survivors Secretariat sent a letter to the Office of the Primate of the Anglican Church, requesting assistance in locating the archives of New England Companywhich originally ran the Mohawk Institute, according to the Secretariat.
The documents relating to the beginning of the institution are in England.
We don’t have them and we know that New England Company was heavily involved in the very beginning of the establishment of the Mohawk Institute boarding schoolsaid Roberta Hill.
On Saturday, Mr. Welby said that the New England Company was separate from the Church of England, but he promised to use his influence for the publication of all records of Anglican -run boarding schools.
Revitalize Native Languages
In addition to the materials, the survivors also want funds to help revive the native languages that residential schools seek to eliminate.
If I look at how damaged the residential school system is, it has contributed greatly to the destruction of language and culture.said Ms. Hill.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has not pledged to provide this funding, but he said he will work with Anglican bishops at the Lambeth Conference in August to decide how to support future survivors.
Based on an article by Olivia Stefanovich of the CBC
Source: Radio-Canada
